Optoelectronic components operating in the visible wavelength and integrated upon quartz substrates are advantageous due to device transparency, availability of a mature glass processing technology, the potential for scalability, and the ability to withstand relatively high processing temperature up to 1000° C. Beyond lighting, integrated light emitters on quartz pave the way for diverse applications crossing multiple disciplines, such as integrated optofluidics devices, and integrated photonics by bonding the quartz based device wafer onto microfluidic and CMOS wafers. Passive waveguiding structure compatible with glass have been demonstrated, including using silicon nitride based structures and femtosecond laser micromachining. By utilizing nonlinearity effects on glass it is possible to implement functions such as optical switching. Thus, the quartz platform is highly attractive for cross disciplinary scientific purposes. Another added advantage is ease of implementation of such integrated optoelectronics due to the widespread use of glass in commercial lighting system and electronic devices.
There have been several attempts to grow III-Nitride materials on top of glass based substrates. Previously, GaN deposition on glass utilizing gas source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and have resulted in polycrystalline material quality which affects device performance. Others have demonstrated the capability of growing nearly single crystalline GaN micro-pyramids on top of glass by micromasking and subsequent selective metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth within the holes. However, the excessive indium evaporation in metal organic chemical vapor deposition prevents efficient incorporation of indium for achieving emitters in the green gap. Yet others have demonstrated improvements in the quality of sputtered InGaN thin film on top of amorphous glass using graphene as a pre-orienting buffer layer, effectively suppressing a defect-related photoluminescence peak. Still, these methods require complex processing steps which hinder the possibility of integrating them into cost-effective manufacturing processes.
Unlike planar or micrometer-size semiconductor epitaxy growth, plasma-assisted MBE-grown self-assembled group III-Nitride nanowires materials can be grown on surfaces with disparate lattice constant or crystal structure, and still be dislocation-free in the active region. These nanowire materials are typically grown catalyst-free using plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE) without the need for epitaxial lattice-, thermal-, or crystal-structure-matching with the substrate. In addition to good crystal quality, nanowire-based III-Nitride materials can also cover UV, visible, and IR wavelengths by changing the ternary compound composition, making them attractive for various applications. Furthermore, their reduced piezoelectric polarization and elastic strain enable high quantum efficiency even within the green gap.